Sign in

Karl Jacoby

@karl-jacoby.bsky.social
7K followers 672 following 2.1K posts

Professor of History at Columbia University; author of CRIMES AGAINST NATURE, SHADOWS AT DAWN: A BORDERLANDS MASSACRE AND THE VIOLENCE OF HISTORY; and THE STRANGE CAREER OF WILLIAM ELLIS. Working on a new project on the US-Mexico War (1846-1848).

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 3h
Thank you @adamserwer.bsky.social for the fullest account of what’s actually dangerous in higher ed right now. State censorship at incredible scale. And for particulars of expert history framed as ideology I note @sethrockman.bsky.social on the block here. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1...
theatlantic.com
All the Things You’re Not Allowed to Say In Texas
The state now controls what professors can teach.
511165
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Uplifting News @upliftingnews.bsky.social · 17h
Restoring oyster reefs could deliver $12 trillion in ecosystem benefits—cleaning water, capturing carbon and protecting coastlines across 295,000 sq km of suitable habitat.
scitechdaily.com
The world's oyster reefs could deliver an estimated $12 trillion in ecosystem benefits if restored and protected, scientists say. Researchers identified 295,000 square kilometres of suitable habitat across 10 countries, where reefs can clean water,…
The world's oyster reefs could deliver an estimated $12 trillion in ecosystem benefits if restored and protected, scientists say. Researchers identified 295,000 square kilometres of suitable habitat across 10 countries, where reefs can clean water, capture carbon and protect coastlines.
021470
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Eric Umansky @ericumansky.bsky.social · 17h
Watch an ICE agent run down and then run over a man. The man was was then writhing on the ground, saying "You broke my leg! You broke my leg!" Agents didn't help him. And btw, the man wasn't the target of their operation.
1132045983
Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 17h
No way a person on foot running away from you is a threat. This is attempted murder.
0249
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 17h
The @houstonchronicle.com posted this video and it's pretty jarring. No matter that he was fleeing, law enforcement officers may not use deadly force on someone who poses no significant risk of death or serious injury to others. Deliberately hitting someone with a car is a use of deadly force.
801717790
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 21h
One of the most famous trees in the American southwest—where tress are often considered sacred—is maliciously destroyed by Markwayne Mullins' goons. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
washingtonpost.com
They sat atop a ‘grandmother’ tree for months. Border agents knocked it down.
Activists occupied a cottonwood tree in Arizona for more than two months in a standoff with U.S. Customs and Border Protection contractors.
13355166
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Mexico News @mexiconews.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
• The blue crab's spawning season transforms the Cancun coast into a natural attraction, while volunteers and authorities participate in efforts ... Cars crush them; that's the problem www.instagram.com/p/DeUa1YooNLL/
121
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
After years of championing "free speech," Texas lawmakers have enabled a dramatic rise of censorship in Texas universities, banning concepts, canceling courses and closing departments seen as "woke," and even using AI bots as censors. All in the name of freedom. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1...
In other professors’ syllabi, the bot flagged the Pulitzer Prize–winning play Angels in America by Tony Kushner, essays by the Mexican American MacArthur genius grant recipient Sandra Cisneros, and materials related to a class about the Holocaust (that professor was told to drop material regarding Nazi persecution of LGBTQ people).

Putting aside the ideological slant of the new rules, the bot, like many large language models, seems to “hallucinate,” or make mistakes. The AAUP lawsuit lists texts banned for their “sex-based ecofeminist framework” and “gendered ecofeminist frameworks.” These phrases might sound persuasively like academese, but the academics behind the lawsuit had never heard of them; these concepts “do not exist,” the complaint says. Matthew Pehl, a history professor at Tech, told me that he knew several people who’d received reports from the system that were “plainly written by an AI that had hallucinated content or confused content from one class to another.”
6932191121
Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
"kinetic engagement"??!!
1300
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Erik Loomis @erikloomis.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
This Day in Labor History: October 11, 1979. OSHA fined the chemical company American Cyanamid $10,000 for coercing women workers into sterilization if they wanted to work in jobs where they would be exposed to lead and chemicals. Let's talk how companies forced women to be sterilized in the 70s!
48554
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
ProPublica @propublica.org · 10/10/2026
NEW: Early on Aug. 25, the Tohono O’odham Nation received a one-minute notice from Border Patrol. A convoy of contractors — guarded by masked agents — was en route to conduct testing for a coming border wall. The tribe was warned: Do not interfere.
propublica.org
As Trump’s Wall Closes in, DHS Intimidates a Border Tribe With Surveillance, Masked Agents and Drones
For decades, the Tohono O’odham Nation collaborated with DHS to stave off a border wall. Despite their cooperation, the Trump administration is barreling forward with a project that would divide their...
28749457
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
A recent 🧵by @elisewang.bsky.social explains the difficulty of finding executioners in medieval Europe. It’s an excellent 🧵. I find a similar thing in my research: even those tasked with executing people didn't want to stick around to watch them die. They left if they could. bsky.app/profile/elis...
212121
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Nicole Foy @nicolefoy.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
What a strange story. California woman finds a man, allegedly drunk, sleeping on her lawn early in the morning & sends her dad out to move him. The man wakes up & allegedly assaults the (elderly) dad, who shoots him Turns out the man is off-duty ICE agent David Gonzalez abc7.com/story/off-du...
abc7.com
Off-duty ICE agent shot after assaulting 72-year-old man and his daughter at Fresno home, police say
Authorities say a woman found the ICE agent sleeping on her front lawn.
1032067679
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Rine Vieth @rinewithoutacat.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Not to take away from celebrating Carson, but she's a "former professor" here in large part because the university shut down her department and cancelled its classes. What pride does the institution claim now—years later—when austerity is forcing other scholars out? What does that 'pride' do?
1857305
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Meanwhile, back where we started. I said this morning: Notable that Anthropic is more interested in protecting Claude from humans than humans from Claude. Not just Anthropic. The misdirection of empathy says a lot.
421049
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 10/10/2026
"Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given...individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do." @timothysnyder.bsky.social
15614210
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Tom Schaller @schaller67.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
If you want to witness a live execution on TV just play pretty much any part of Ossoff’s public murder of Collins.
210618
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
It’s notable to me that TWO of the most recent women who have won a NoBel Prize were denied tenure from their institutions: Anne Carson and Katalin Karikó
9568188
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Scott Brown (he/him) @scbrown-lookingup.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
We're living through an important time in history, and this is part of acknowledging that. The preservation of the materials around the Nazi "Entartete Kunst" comes to mind. www.artnews.com/art-news/new...
artnews.com
Rep. Jamie Raskin Wants the Smithsonian to Collect and Display Trump’s Propaganda, To Teach About Tyranny
Jamie Raskin has introduced legislation directing the Smithsonian to preserve artifacts of Trump's "propaganda, corruption, and authoritarianism."
26320
Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
"In the last 25 years, Arizona has had between zero and two jaguars in the state at any given time. . . . Meanwhile, just the area of the Northern Jaguar Project in Sonora has about a dozen jaguars, with around 4,000 throughout México." azluminaria.org/2024/09/30/o...
azluminaria.org
On the trail of the jaguar: Population growth a success in Sonora. Can the U.S. do the same? - AZ Luminaria
Jaguars prowl land managed by the Northern Jaguar Project in Sonora, Mexico. Advocates want to expand jaguar protections into Arizona and New Mexico. But federal regulators, a border wall completion a...
021
Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Mexico has helped its jaguar population to grow--but Trump is preventing this from extending into the US mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mexicos...
mexiconewsdaily.com
Mexico's jaguar population has jumped 33% since 2010
Mexico’s jaguar population is climbing, but the country’s biggest cat isn’t out of the woods yet, according to newly released data.
100
Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Funny take on a serious topic: The number of jaguars in northern Mexico is increasing--but it is increasingly difficult for them to cross over into the US because of Trump's border wall. (Thanks to @peccarynotpig.bsky.social for his contribution.) www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxeg...
youtube.com
Trump's New Border Wall Might C**kblock Jaguars & Grace Kuhlenschmidt Investigates | The Daily Show
YouTube video by The Daily Show
141
Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I thought conservatives wanted college admissions to be based solely on merit.
010
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Waitman Wade Beorn, PhD, FRHistS @waitmanwbeorn.com · 09/10/2026
And, after all the other horrible things about this, if this goes through, it will be counter-productive. It will make Hasan a martyr and will be used by terrorist groups around the world to justify their own public executions. Mark my words, we will see Americans killed on TV because of this.
1717451
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Fascism is also about the pleasure of seeing unwanted bodies mutilated, tortured, killed. This has nothing to do with Hasan's crimes. It has to do with bringing back public lynchings. They're signaling to their base that they can now rejoice in the the death of undesirables.
4504171
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Joel @snufkinlib.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
If I was this administration I wouldn’t want to be establishing a precedent for public executions, personally
1824041
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Margaret Morgan 🇪🇺🇳🇱🇦🇺 @margaretmorgan.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
As @klg.bsky.social notes, Hegseth has doubtless not read Charles Dickens' letter to The Times on witnessing a public hanging, but we must. kerryngoldsworthy.substack.com/p/the-execut...
"The horrors of the gibbet and of the crime which brought the wretched murderers to it faded in my mind before the atrocious bearing, looks, and language of the assembled spectators." 

Kerryn Goldsworthy, quoting Dickens
615044
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Gavin Esler @gavinesler.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Although perhaps some grown-up could point out that offering a horrendous criminal what may be seen as a martyrdom video might not be such a clever idea
2018535
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
The Volatile Mermaid @ohnoshetwitnt.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
If people really want to see live executions they should just follow ICE agents around.
461881497
Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
In addition to being profoundly racist and neglecting the fact that many "Somalians" are US citizens, this is also factually wrong: there are 112,000 people of Somali descent living in MN out of a total population of 5.8 million -- in other words only 1.9% of MN.
171
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Thomas Lecaque @tlecaque.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
They're Neo Confederates masturbating to the idea of slave ships. I want it to be more complex and less grossly stupid but they're not special interesting boys, they're Silicon Klansmen.
16792203
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 09/10/2026
BREAKING: A federal immigration agent shot a man in the Bronx on Thursday afternoon, the latest of nearly two dozen such shootings in the past two years. A statement by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani indicated that the man had a five-year-old child in his car.
motherjones.com
DHS shoots New York man with five-year-old in car
Federal agents surrounded and fired into the man's vehicle, reportedly with a young child inside.
40463235
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 08/10/2026
a livestreamed execution is just a lynching
285103352007
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Anthony Reed @blackpoetics.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
📣Everybody! Vanderbilt English is hiring a tenured associate professor of Global Modernism. We especially welcome candidates who study Anglophone modernisms comparatively alongside other modernist traditions of the early 20th century. Please help me get the word out! apply.interfolio.com/194557
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
03036
Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Snuff films from the Trump administration.
0121
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Adia Benton @ethnography911.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
New report on academic freedom and campus repression from the middle east studies association that’s worth a look. afi.mesana.org/resource/les...
afi.mesana.org
Lessons in Repression: Silencing Campus Workers on Palestine Since October 7, 2023 | The MESA Academic Freedom Initiative
Report Preview It has been three years since campuses across the US and Canada erupted in protest against Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip. And despite public demonization, mass arrests, harassment...
13327
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Soooo how did signing that agreement work out Brown?
752976
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Nicole Foy @nicolefoy.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
If you’ve ever read The Deportation Machine by Adam Goodman, you know how this went last time we did this
33017
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
“accompanying faith in future technological salvation provides another crutch: a way of postponing difficult choices today by placing hope in solutions that may arrive tomorrow” - @kevinclimate.bsky.social
theguardian.com
Scientists who put faith in technology less likely to take climate action
‘Techno-optimism’ may lead to reliance on unproven solutions at expense of societal changes needed
23115
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
ElieNYC @elienyc.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Ah yes, I remember when Trotsky wrote about how Russian workers should be replaced by low wage immigrants from China so that strong Russian boys would have more time to play girls ice hockey. It's right there in the manuscript.
571918303
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Universities bring in foreign students ... to undercut the wages of American residents? What? This is exactly backwards. Foreign students subsidize the tuition of American students. I wonder why the VP who follows Nazis online has this all wrong. Probably an innocent, non-racist mistake.
1433224854
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Seth Rockman @sethrockman.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Don't buy me a Claude subscription. Buy me a round seminar table around which 15 students can sit for a sustained conversation!
46115
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Éditions Anacharsis @anacharsis-ed.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Vente spéciale sur Ulule en soutien aux éditions Anacharsis : partons à la découverte du catalogue à travers différentes thématiques... ☸ Cabinet de curiosités ☸ Histoire des gens du peuple ☸ Chasse au trésor ▶️ fr.ulule.com/editions-anacharsis/
Trois titres de notre collection de poche "Griffe"
☸ Le chien, la neige, un pied (prix Lire en poche), de Claudio Morandini
☸ Roi. (prix de la page 111), de Mika Biermann
☸ Cyrano avant Rostand, présenté par Laurent Calvié
☸ 1 carte postaleDeux titres de notre collection "Essais - Histoire" et un titre de la collection "Griffe"
☸ La Femme du capitaine, de Martha Hodes
☸ L’esclave qui devint millionnaire, de Karl Jacoby
☸ Spinalonga, d'Epaminondas Remoundakis
☸ 3 cartes postalesQuatre titres sur la piraterie
☸ Aventures dans les Caraïbes, d'Henry Pitman
☸ Le Santal et les Cannibales, de William Lockerby
☸ Au diable à sa fantaisie, de William Snelgrave
☸ Corsaires à Marseille, de Laure-Hélène Gouffran
☸ 4 cartes postales
024
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Daniel Keys Moran @fatsam.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy · 28/08/2026
Karl Jacoby 
@karl_jacoby

Historian here to remind you that when the student body was
predominantly white, world-class public universities like Berkeley charged no tuition.  Today's student debt is a product of underfunding of education right as integration began to take place.
0128
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Refusing to Forget @refusing2forget.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
The violent history of border policing is now devouring what is left of democracy in the USA. We refuse to forget the murders of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and so many others. www.publicbooks.org/borders-dont...
publicbooks.org
Borders Don’t Stop Violence—They Create It - Public Books
Monica Muñoz Martinez and Karl Jacoby discuss how the “border” is not a line on the ground, but a tool to enable violence and surveillance.
11211
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Daniel Keys Moran @fatsam.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Karl Jacoby 
@karl_jacoby

Historian here to remind you that when the student body was
predominantly white, world-class public universities like Berkeley charged no tuition.  Today's student debt is a product of underfunding of education right as integration began to take place.
0114
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Podcast about my first book, CRIMES AGAINST NATURE (worth listening to even though the podcaster mangles my last name!) podcasts.apple.com/ga/podcast/e...
podcasts.apple.com
Episode 12: Karl Jacoby, Crimes Against Nature
Podcast Episode · American Writers (One Hundred Pages at a Time) · 06/11/2025 · 36m
1111
Karl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Congressional investigators uncovered an email from Botstein to Jeffrey Epstein in which Botstein asked if a young woman was “for me, or are you keeping her for yourself?” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Leon Botstein resigns from Bard roles as key Democrat demands investigation into Epstein links
Jamie Raskin says ‘startling’ email asked whether young woman was ‘for me, or are you keeping her for yourself’
077
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
PEN America @penamerica.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
The most banned book in the 2025-2026 school year, according to the PEN America Index of School Book Bans, is Patricia McCormick’s Sold, a novel about child trafficking. See more of the most-banned books in American schools at: pen.org/banned-books-list-2026 #bannedbooks #bannedbooksweek
Most banned books of the 2025-2026 school year, showing covers and number of districts: "Sold" (25), "Speak" (23), "Crank" (22), "The Handmaid's Tale," "Looking for Alaska," "Kingdom of Ash," "Identical" (21 each). Includes PEN America logo.
1312965
Reposted by Karl Jacoby
Brendan Cantwell @cantb.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Aside from everything, $100 million is pretty damn small potatoes, especially in the context of ongoing research funding cuts. Like it would be $2 million to 50 research universities. Everything with these guys is a grift. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
White House Makes $100 Million Push to Train American Scientists
The Trump administration is injecting more than $100 million into education programs for American researchers in STEM fields, as federal policies stanch the flow of foreign scientists to the US and po...
75312